I often image that the brain
is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer and the fingers
are the I/O devices which are under the commands of the CPU.

There is no double it, use your brain to play from the very beginning to
the very end. The conscious mind must train the sub-conscious mind. The
brain must guide the fingers, not the fingers the brain. There is no substitute
in piano practice for the careful, conscious repetition of a movement in order
that there may be complete reliability when the movement later comes under the
sub-conscious control.The
hand's acting straightly shows WHAT HAPPENS in the pianist's MIND.

"Concentrated thought is the basis
of his principles, the corner stone of his method. Without it , nothing of any
permanent value can be obtained, either in art or anything else. No amount
of mechanical finger-work can take its place; and the player who repeats the
same passage wearily expectant that he will accomplish it in process of time, is
a lost of soul on a hopeless quest." - On Leschetizky's Teaching Methods

In technique, our
goal is to have the fingers reach the keys with the
minimum, most economic motion before the keys are depressed,
then
depress the keys with proper force and speed control and
relax your muscles immediately after the sound is produced.
It
sounds easy but it happens in a split second. You have
to figure out how to do it with your brain genius and train
your fingers to do it. It requires the pianist, in addition to
his musicianship, the knowledge about the physiology
of his body, his playing members and the knowledge of how
the piano sound.

"Technique in the truer sense has its seat in the brain."

-
Quote from Ferruccio Busoni

Whenever there
are obstinate difficulties in technique or interpretation,
the player should stop playing and start thinking. Do
not expect that the repetition of the same passage again and
again can solve the problem. Study the music scores away
from the piano. search the related literatures to find a
solution with your brain.

PLAYING BY BRAIN AND EAR

"I advise you very often to stop
and listen when you are practicing, and then you will find out a great deal for
yourself. "

-Quote from Theodor Leschetizky

Playing piano by brain and ear may actually be much easier than most music
teachers lead students to believe.

According to the articles in WebMD, researchers say the findings
suggest that the brain links finger movements with particular notes within
minutes of training. It also suggest that ear-to-hand link commences
within the first weeks of practice and may render the basis for any skills
that can be accomplished in a pianist's career. Researchers say the study may
also help explain why many pianists tap their fingers when they hear music
without even knowing they're doing it.

Traditional piano playing teach you to establish close
eye-to-hand link that dominated decades of practice. We don't mean that you don't
need a score to play. But try to play your favorite melodies by ear when you
first contact the piano.

"Notes, after all, are merely
symbols for sounds. The pupil who has learned music by the way it sounds hears
the tone when he looks at the symbol. The movements that make this imagined tone
audible are directed by his ear. They are as fluid, as efficient, as co-ordinated
as his movements when playing without notes." -Quote from Abby
Whitside

When you play piano by score, your
eyes glue to the notes and the notations, your brain and ears spend less in
controlling your playing mechanism. It would result in note-wise playing without
music. If the score is hard to read then read it away from the piano. When you
are familiar with the piece after practice, play it from memory so that your brain and ears can concentrate in
making music.

"The best study could be done away
from the piano...." -Quote from Theodor Leschetizky

Playing from
Memory:

Playing from memory is not an
option but a necessity. It frees your eyes from looking at
the scores, let's your body, arms and hands move more
freely; let's you concentrate your mind in making the music
as well as decrease the likely hood of memory slip during
performance. So playing from memory is an integral part of
the technique.

There are
different types of memory:

Aural Memory: you
physically hear the sound of the music, can sing the
melody in your mind.

Analytical Memory:
memorize by knowing the form of the composition, it's
structural design, it's paragraphs, phrases. dynamics,
nuances and by
understanding the harmonics, chord progressions. key
signatures, etc. It is most reliable way of memorization.

Visual/Photographic
memory: seeing the printed music score in your mind.
Most of us are vision learners.

Hand/Muscle Memory: know
where your hand and fingers to go. it's a type of reflex
that is subconscious. It's most unreliable, always cause
memory slip due to nervousness.

Memory slip occurs when we rely
on one type of memory which can fail momentarily due to
nervousness and playing environment changes. We must train
each memory instead rely on only one of them.